The incredible audio was put forward by Merseyside Police in a bid to deter others from wasting valuable police time.

Dawson, 33, told the female operator his pal Gavin Forkings “had gone barmy” and was “going to shoot through the window”, when in fact he was asleep in an upstairs bedroom.

Neighbours cowered in shelter as scores of police swooped on the house amid fears the ‘gunman’ could go on the rampage.

But a firearm never existed.

The first hoax call was made at 6.45pm on April 20.

It begins:

Operator: “Police emergency.

Dawson: “Hello, it’s me here, on Guildford Road is it, please?”

Operator: “What’s the problem?”

Dawson:“He’s had a gun and I’ve got rid of it?”

Operator: “It’s what?”

Dawson: “We’ve had a gun and we don’t want no mider or we’ll walk out.”

Operator: “What do you mean you’ve had a gun.”

Dawson: “We’ve got a gun on us.”

The operator, instantly concerned, tries to get the hoaxer to tell her where the gun is, to which Dawson says: “He [Forkings] has got one but I am trying to get rid of it.”

When asked what kind of firearm is in the house, Dawson stutters: “It’s a shooter...a shooter, what kills you.”

The conversation – often unintelligible due to Dawson’s clearly intoxicated condition – turns to Forkings:

Operator: “What’s he doing?”

Dawson: “He’s fuming.”

Operator: “He’s fuming and he is in possession of a handgun?”

Dawson: “No. he’s got rid of that now.”

Operator: “He’s got rid of it? Where is it?”

Dawson :“I don’t know, I can’t find it.”

Operator: “Is it in the house?

Dawson: “Yeah.”

Dawson continues: “I just don’t want no-one round here ‘cos he might...if he gets it [the gun], it will go off and I’m trying to find where it is.”

In the next exchange, the operator tries to obtain more information about the gun. She asks: “It’s a small handgun?” to which Dawson replies: “It’s one that will blow your head off.”

Dawson then tells the operator that Forkings “goes and flips” and is “bouncing around upstairs”:

Dawson: “He said he is going to shoot through the window.”

Operator: “He said he’s going to shoot through the window?”

Dawson: “Yeah, when he sees you.”

Dawson then pleads with the operator for help, fearing he might get shot. He mumbles that Forkings is “barmy” and has “done armed robbery and everything.”

As the operator tries to build a profile of Forkings, Dawson tries to end the call.

He talks of going “over the back” – perhaps insinuating fleeing the house into adjoining fields – and says: “I’ve got to go now”.

Before he hangs up, the operator warns: “If it’s a false report then the police are going to want to catch up with you.”

The police response to the ‘critical incident’ cost the taxpayer more than £3,300.

Police involved in the operation, and the subsequent search for the firearm, included: Eight armed police officers, two negotiators, two duty superintendents, one force incident manager, one traffic officer, a dog patrol, six uniformed officers, two detectives and three constables.

Also enlisted was a crime scene investigator, a detective sergeant, an expert in crime scene management, specialist Matrix officers, a dog patrol and a search team.

Father-of-two Dawson, 33, was jailed for six weeks after pleading guilty to wasting police time.